


saccharine smiles

by kirsongs



Category: Nikolai Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Daydreaming, F/F, Jealousy, ehri is . . . sneaky, kirs100, nikolai is completely oblivious and in love with zoya, zoya is jealous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28189623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirsongs/pseuds/kirsongs
Summary: zoya nazyalensky prides herself on her ability to put her country, her goals, before her own emotions and wants. that is, until she finds herself unexpectedly distracted by an unwelcome guest.or, for tiff: "maybe zoya’s with nikolai but she realizes she’s been zoning out and staring at ehri the whole time?"
Relationships: Ehri Kir-Taban/Zoya Nazyalensky
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	saccharine smiles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wafflesandkruge](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflesandkruge/gifts).



If there was one thing Zoya had come to admire of Nikolai's queen-to-be, it was surely her stubbornness. It had gotten her here, after all, albeit after a week of badgering Nikolai, perched primly in a high-backed chair to Nikolai's left as Genya went on about wedding plans in what really should have been a war council. But, with an easy smile, Nikolai had pronounced the day "too fine and too early" for talk of doom, and the company "too beautiful" - accompanied by a glance in Ehri's directly, who promptly ignored him - and thus Genya had seized the moment with far too much energy for the time of day, and had begun rambling about flowers and seating arrangements and dancing and Saints knew what else that went into planning a wedding of this caliber. 

To her credit, though, she did seem to have enraptured Tolya's attention, who stood stiff near the door, but every so often injected a thought about a color palette or a poem or . . . Saints, he was reciting one again. Tamar watched her brother and Genya with a laughing smile on her face, chair leaned back, occasionally throwing glances at her wife, Nadia, who was seated next to her but seemed far more into her low-voiced conversation with David, who was tinkering with something shiny in his lap. You could take them out of the lab, but the science talk never seemed to stop. Genya didn't seem to mind at her husband's distraction, though, reaching forward with one to snatch a powdered sugar coated pastry off the table as the other jotted notes down rapidly onto the stacks of papers beside her, covered with fabric swatches, flower vendors, and all their options for the invitations ( and options there were ). 

Ehri and Nikolai were the two who seemed least engaged with the proceedings, the latter currently spacing somewhere in Zoya's direction and absentmindedly picking at a fingernail, bags visible under his eyes. The demon had grown angrier ever since they'd returned from the Fold, meaning more sleepless nights for the both of them. Even when he was able to contain it, Zoya knew he mustn't be sleeping well - David's draughts had grown better at containing the beast, but the tired circles remained. She turned her gaze in his direction and was received with a half-smile, edges of his lips curling up at her look, blue eyes perking up from their dull stupor, drawn to attention. She returned his gaze with a faint smile of her own, straightening her spine against the hard back of her chair, bringing her shoulders down and back from where she knew they drew up far too high in her stress. Even surrounded by friends, she still wanted to look presentable. 

As to Ehri, seated to Nikolai's left and directly across the table from Zoya, the Shu princess currently looked entirely relaxed. Her pale chin was perched in one hand, her red-painted nails resting against the faint flush of her cheek as she listened to Genya begin what was bound to be a lengthy presentation on the right calligraphy for the table settings. Her long onyx hair was half pulled up into a chignon at the base of her neck, a few strands having slipped free of their ties and hanging loose, framing her face. She was dressed in the Ravkan style, appropriate for the late fall chill that hovered in the air. A pale blue fitted coat, almost kefta-like, wrapped around her, the hood that hung at her back lined with some kind of dappled white fur. 

She looked good, Zoya had to admit. Very regal, in matching colors with Nikolai, who had a similarly pale blue military jacket draped on the back of his chair. Their matching had been the idea of a few Grand Palace handmaiden tasked with dressing Ehri, who'd decided that the best way to show off the new unity between Shu Han and Ravka was with clothing. Zoya wasn't sure she agreed with that, but it had seemed to work with the common folk, who, according to every report from Tamar's intelligence network, fully believed in the chemistry and potential of the soon to be royal couple. They'd made multiple appearances throughout Ravka this side of the Fold, attending dinner parties, consecrations of new buildings, and even one very awkward feast at Kirigan's, where Ehri had looked deeply confused the entire time at the sheer amount of praise the count had layed upon her. At each stop, they'd made sure to make at least one public appearance, holding hands and waving at an excited, adoring crowd, who'd been far more receiving of the Shu princess than Zoya had expected. 

It had probably helped that Nikolai wasn't really holding back with the public displays of affection. He grasped Ehri's hand almost constantly, helping her out of carriages, up stairs, and kissed her nearly as much, drawing her in close whenever the moment felt like it was required. It was greatly helped by the fact that both, raised in royalty and politics, were thus fantastic actors. Despite her indifference to Nikola in private, the Ehri in public felt very much like she was in love with him, like she adored him, like she couldn't wait to be the subservient queen and mother that the Ravkan people expected her to be. Her smiles, her kisses, looked convincing, natural even, down to the way she wrapped her arms around him as he cupped her face, pulling her in to the applause of a crowd. They, for all intents and purposes, publicly looked like a young couple head over heels for each other. And Zoya hated it. 

Ehri's fake smiles, her shy looks through her lashes, the gentle way she kissed him, all filled Zoya with a feeling she she was all too familar with but would never admit. Who was she to just waltz in here, attempt a murder, and then act as if nothing had ever happened and that it was all shiny and perfect and beautiful? Because it wasn't, obviously. Because she wasn't in love with Nikolai and he wasn't in love with her. Right?

Not that Zoya would ever admit to anyone - not even drunk to Genya - that she cared about who Nikolai loved. And she didn't, really. She'd only cared about him and Alina for two reasons: one, it was increasingly obvious throughout Nikolai's courting of her that Alina was still deeply in love with Mal, and two, that it meant someone else getting the power she so craved. But watching him with Ehri had made her question that, made her question if she did actually care for who Nikolai gave his heart to. Well, she sure cared if it was Ehri. Ehri, who Zoya was becoming increasingly aware was looking at her. 

Bringing her gaze up from the dark stained wood of the table, she found herself locking eyes with the other girl, the Shu princess's brown eyes staring intently into Zoya's blue. There was something different in her look, though, unlike the half-glazed boredom that Zoya had witnessed from her earlier. It was as if she'd known Zoya had been thinking about her. Saints, she hadn't been that obvious, had she? The last thing she needed was a confrontation about Nikolai. But Ehri's gaze wasn't angry, or malicious. There was something else there, something Zoya would have sworn was a sparkle of interest. A coy smile played across her lips, dusted with sugar, likely from the same pastry Genya had been consuming all morning. 

If Zoya didn't know better, she would have sworn it was a flirtatious glance that Ehri gave. Not that Ehri would have ever been interested in someone like her, not when she'd played the part of Nikolai's doting lover so convincingly. And not like it would have made any sense if she was looking at Zoya like that, as if her interest in anyone other than her betrothed would be allowed, much less encouraged by the other party. Especially if that other party was also a very, very high ranking member of Ravka's monarchy. Right?

How would that even work, if - hypothetically - she _was_ flirting with Zoya, and if - hypothetically - Zoya was feeling something very much not like jealousy in her stomach right now. Zoya was never one to be secret about her affairs, and this hypothetical situation would need a lot of secrecy. Although, she had to admit, there was something incredibly thrilling about a lover in secret, stealing kisses in the waning hours of the night, finding any time and any place alone, covering up any sign of where they'd been and anything they'd done to each other. Especially when that secret could get you killed. Especially when that secret currently was staring at Zoya with interest and a light coating of sugar on her lips practically begging to be kissed off in a stolen moment, hands and mouths exploring something new with an urgent intensity, hair pulled back already beginning to come free, just in need of a little tug. 

They'd find a corridor, abandoned, and an alcove within it, where Zoya could push her against a wall and they could find a moment of privacy in their breaths, in their shared adrenaline in the risk, in the feeling of another body on theirs, in the thrill that always came with learning a new lover. Where she could find what make her laugh, what make her gasp, what made her stare at Zoya so intriguingly. Where she could taste the sugar on her lips. 

Oh, if only. Hypothetically, of course. 


End file.
